Cong. Bob Brady Presses Nutter To Pitch For 2016 Democratic Convention
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Mayor Michael Nutter got a firsthand briefing this morning from a top local Democratic Party operative on what it would take to have Philadelphia host the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
US Rep. Bob Brady (D-Pa.) met privately with Nutter at City Hall for about one hour, making the case to have this city bid for the 2016 Democratic convention (see related story).
"Most of the cities (which have hosted) brought back hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues," Brady said afterward. "The city gets a return from a convention of this size."
Brady said the Nutter meeting was made more urgent because the DNC is speeding up the application process in light of speculation that the Republican party may move up its 2016 convention from August to June.
Joining Brady for the Nutter briefing were consultants with New Partners Consulting, a firm that helped the City of Charlotte, NC host the 2012 Democratic convention.
Kevin Washo of New Partners Consulting said time is of the essence, making this meeting vital.
"There's many cities across the country that are having this same discussion," he said today. "With the timeline of when the DNC wants to send out their letters of interest, you have to have your ducks in a row if this is something the city and region want to pursue. By all indications, having those ducks in a row are going to be very key to this, because this is going to be a major endeavor. So just to get the facts straight, to get the timeline down, get a sense of what it would take, and we answered the mayor's questions."
Nutter himself was not available for comment. He was previously described as being "very interested" in having the city host the 2016 DNC but concerned that the city would need to raise millions of dollars in private donations to pay for the event.
Brady doesn't think that would be a problem.
"It would probably not cost the city any money whatsoever, because you get a federal grant for the police overtime and cleanup," Brady tells KYW Newsradio. "We would have to raise private monies, and the mayor is quite adamant about it not costing the city any money."
